Category: Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes (1925) famous for his poetry, novels, plays, and children’s books. In his poetry he touches on serious topics like: equality, racism and injustice, African American culture and religion (spirituality). It is interesting to note that most of the things he wrote about are still pretty accurate till this day. For example, Christianity, and how this was and is still a big part of African American culture today.

One of my favorite works was: Ruby Brown and The Weary Blues, because it speaks upon people that have to cope with their struggles in different ways in order to survive. The pianist  that “made that poor piano moan with melody” and Ruby Brown who was trying to make enough money, and had no other choice but to go for prostitution. 

As I was reading his poems, I struggled a bit adjusting to the language use and the structure of the writing. He also applied old fashioned language that is found offensive today.

He uses interesting forms that unite the reader and his people together, speaking for a whole culture. The word “me” doesn’t always mean singular form, in fact most of the time it means “we” which changes the passage completely. 

I found it helpful to listen to other people read the same poem after me, which gave me a better idea of the potential feeling and intonation it would be spoken in. Overall, his work made me more of an analytical reader and gave me a better understanding of African American culture.

Langston Hughes, an African American poet, is one of the developers of Jazz poetry. He is the leader of the Harlem Renaissance and has a significant impact on the revival of African American culture and art including literature and music. He is influenced by Whitman’s four aspects, free verse, optimism, the celebration of justice and equality, and catalogs. These four qualities are revealed in his poetries. I used to expect that poetries should have a fixed rhyme scheme, a rhythm, and fixed sentence lengths, yet Langston Hughes’ poems changed my stereotype of poetries. Free verse can be seen in most of his poems, I, Too is a notable example of free verse. There is neither rhyme schemes nor fixed lines length. The poem sounds like breaking sentences apart into different lines. Free verse also can be seen in the poem — As I Grew Older. Neither rhyme scheme nor fixed line length can be found in this poem.

Langston Hughes’ poem celebrates justice and equality and is surrounded by the theme — optimism. The poem Negro shows the quality of advocating justice and equality. In the poem, African Americans are not treated equally to white people. He mentions that the African Americans work hard for people by making an example — “Under my hands the pyramid arose.” (line 8), yet they are not praised enough as they should be. I feel empathy for African Americans at that time as they are discriminated against by white people despite the hard work they have completed. As an Asian in Canada, a North American country, I feel lucky that racism and discrimination have not happened to me.

I was impressed by the rhythm created in the poem The Weary Blues which deeply caught my attention. There is a “syncopated tune” throughout the poem which is mentioned in line 1. It makes me feel like it is a trailer for the poem, just like a trailer of a movie about what will happen next, which intrigues me to continue reading the poem. The rhyme scheme of The Weary Blues also allows me to feel the rhythm. The feeling and emotions throughout the poem are more relaxing due to the significant jazz rhythm. The diction is simple which is easy to interpret. This is my favorite out of all the selected poems because of the rhythm and the calm, relaxing feeling carried out from it.

To sum up, Langston Hughes’ poems amazed me by introducing a new impression on poems to me. I also admire his passion and optimism regarding inequality and racism. He reminds me to stay positive, optimistic, and fearless against inequality and raise awareness to solve social issues.

Langston Hughes was a famous African American writer who sparked a revolution with his artistic poetry. He is most famous for his poetry contributions to the Harlem Renaissance movement. Noble recognition for African Americans in his poetry provides awareness for racial discrimination, struggles, experiences, poverty during the perspectives of African Americans. Hughes uses poetry to convey the messages of equality, racial justice, and democracy .

One example of Hughes’ poems, I, Too, illustrates the theme of racial inequality. The poem takes a response of a white person, who is telling the black speaker to separate himself when company arrives. “They send me to eat in the kitchen /
When company comes,”  (ll. 3-4). This represents inequality for the black speaker who is treated differently only based off his skin. When people arrive he moves to the kitchen, away from everyone to eat by himself. However, he empowers himself with pride saying, “Tomorrow, / I’ll be at the table / When company comes. / Nobody’ll dare / Say to me, Eat in the kitchen,” (ll. 8-13). This is a call for racial justice as he declares that he will be granted equality for when other people come to eat. The message of pride and declaration for being treated the same way calls for equality. The speakers tone throughout this poem is irritated, an example  can be seen here “They’ll see how beautiful I am/ And be ashamed- /I too am America” (ll.15-17). The last line “I too am America” marks the reader for understanding the he is an American, simply the same as every other American.

Another significant poem by Hughes, The Negro Mother. Struggles of a black mother are seen in the poem. The certain choice of words in this poem portrays emotions of sympathy, an example can be seen in these lines, “I am the child they stole from the sand / Three hundred years ago in Africa’s land, / I am the dark girl who crossed the wide sea / Carrying in my body the seed of the free, / I am the woman who worked in the field / Bringing the cotton and the corn to yield. / I am the one who labored as a slave,” (ll. 7-13). I felt sympathetic for the speakers experience when she was a “dark girl who crossed the wide sea” (I. 9) The use of imagery also motivates this tone because we can imagine a little girl chained on a ship, stolen from her land for labor. “I am the child they stole from the sand” (I.7) Here we can vividly imagine  a young girl being snatched from her land to get chained on a ship. The weight of diction in “I am the child the stole” creates that tragic, depressing mood for the reader and sets the attitude of sympathy for the black woman and her experiences.

As a comment on black Americans’ experiences in America, Langston Hughes’ poetry is thought-provoking and influential. A marginalized community is captured through metaphor and vivid imagery, while their strength and resilience are also celebrated. Even today, Hughes’ work is still pertinent, serving as a reminder that we are all still fighting for equality and justice. Langston Hughes literature helps us remember why we still fight against discrimination and demand equality in the first place. Listening and reading the pasts of poetry will make us more aware. Based on the real life problems happening today it raises me with questions, what can we do to stop these problems? How can we spread awareness so everyone knows? Listening and reading, poems, books, watching documentaries, movies will create more global awareness, especially spreading it on social media. This will make us more globally aware and give us ideas to support and take action. Hughes’s poetry has granted me with even more perspectives that has made me more aware.

Through his use of imagery, diction, and structure, Langston Hughes is able to convey a tone of optimism and perseverance. Through his writings, Hughes empowers marginalized groups. Hughes’ primary method of empowerment is tone. Hughes uses tone to empower in two ways, both as a voice of optimism, and as a force of condemnation for oppressive institutions. Hughes’ work raises questions on the formation and reconstruction of oppressive institutions, as well as the dismantling of these systems.

An example of an optimistic tone is As I Grew Older, “My hands/My dark hands!/Break through the wall!/Find my dream!/Help me to shatter this darkness,”(ll. 24-28). The speaker has been confronted with a dark, towering, and seemingly unconquerable wall. Despite the obstacle’s intimidating shape and form, the speaker finds the strength to break through the wall in pursuit of their dream. The optimism displayed by the speaker allows him to break a barrier to his dream. The tone of optimism is further evoked by the line, “My dark hands”(l. 25). Through this, Hughes praises the African-American community for its cultural resilience, despite walls being raised around them. Hughes does this by emphasizing the color of the speaker’s skin, and thus empowering the speaker and the African-American community at large. Moreover, the tone of optimism is also conveyed by each of the quoted lines increasing in length. The final quoted line is the climax. The speaker’s feelings of optimism and empowerment increase with the line’s length. The longest quoted line, “Help me to shatter this darkness,”(l. 28), is the climax of the text. The emotional and linguistic climaxes compliment each other. Further, Hughes’ optimistic tone is evoked further by the diction of the poem. For example, “Help me to shatter this darkness,/To smash this night/To break this shadow”(ll. 28-30). Hughes’ diction places an emphasis on the dismantling or undoing of obstacles. Hughes uses words with connotations of violent and chaotic undoing. This conveys the tone of optimism. Optimism is evoked by the speaker’s action of violently dismantling an obstacle to their dream being realized. Further, words such as “smash” have the connotation of destruction. However, after destruction comes rebuilding. As a result, the breaking of a barrier calls for the reconstruction of institutions. By pleading with the African-American community to deconstruct its barriers, Hughes evokes an optimistic tone. Hughes conveys this tone by encouraging not only the knocking down of barriers, but also by pushing for the reconstruction of the institutions that are the root of racial obstacles.

As a result of growing polarization, diverse perspectives on global issues are few and far between. This gap between either side on the pressing issue of injustice has grown exponentially. Because of this, conducting a meaningful discourse on injustice has become nearly impossible. As a result, action on the matter has been lackluster. While people are suffering, those with the means to end suffering stand around and argue. The inability of those in power to end suffering stems from the lack of meaningful, productive discussion on the topic. Those in power are not the only ones vulnerable to lack of perspective. I, too, have been without insight into the true nature of the sufferings of many. Because of this, I have not been doing my part to alleviate the sufferings of my fellow man. However, as I read this collection of Hughes’ work, I have experienced a change of sorts. Hughes’ works have given me insight into other’s perspectives of human suffering. As a result, I have to do my part in dulling the effects of suffering. An example of me attempting to alleviate suffering is working with the Global Awareness Committee of the SLC. Further, we have recently taken on a project to raise money for those victimized by similar injustices depicted in Hughes’ poetry.

Langston Hughes was a poet who lived during and was inspired by the Harlem Renascence in the early 2os. Many of his works used the theme of struggle for the black community mainly but also has many mentions of the struggles of many other groups. I very much enjoyed the collection of poems we were given. With each poem full of content, DRJs have never been so easy since I was continuously finding places using imagery and diction. He also continuously proves Mr. MacKnight point that poems raise question since I had about a million every class. The language used in the collection spawned many complicated conversations as well.

His use of imagery is vivid and captivating, painting pictures in my mind that are both haunting and beautiful. In his poem “The Weary Blues”, Hughes writes, “Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, / Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon.” These lines are a testament to the power of his imagery, as they capture the feeling of blues music and convey a sense of weariness and sadness that is difficult to shake. another good example is in “Ballad of the Landlord”, he writes, “The house is cracked / And nearly tumbling down.” These lines effectively create a vivid image of a rundown and dilapidated building, a powerful symbol of the neglect and hardship faced by the speaker and others in their situation. Hughes’ diction is also noteworthy. He writes in a way that is both simple and profound, making his poems accessible to a wide audience while still containing deep meaning. In “Harlem (2)” he writes, “What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up / Like a raisin in the sun?” The plain language used here belies the complex questions that Hughes is asking, making this poem all the more powerful.

Another aspect of Hughes’ work that I find particularly valuable is the questions that it raises. Whether he is exploring the concept of dreams, the experience of black Americans, or the search for identity, Hughes’ poems always leave me with something to think about. In “Let America Be America Again,” he writes, “O, let America be America again— / The land that never has been yet— / And yet must be—the land where every man is free.” These lines, and the poem as a whole, challenge readers to think about what America truly is, and what it could be. In “Ruby Brown,” Hughes raises questions about morality and the human condition. He writes, “She ain’t no angel, folks / She’s got some wicked ways.” This poem explores the complex and often flawed nature of humanity, and raises important questions about the way we judge and categorize people. As I stated earlier, this always lit my head on fire with questions to bombard Mr. MacKnight with every class.

In conclusion. Reading an learning Langston Hughes poetry was super enjoyable for me. From his vivid imagery to his simple yet profound diction, and the thought-provoking questions his work raises about light and heavy topics alike, he has made poems that are both accessible and valuable. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this collection and it has become one of my favorite texts studied this year.

Langston Hughes is an African American poet who lived during the Harlem Renaissance.The diction and tone used in his poems provide insight into the lives of African Americans. This allows the reader to understand the hardships of their lives and sympathize with the speakers. The world in the poems resembles the world we live in today which brings up questions like what should we be doing to make our society more globally aware? 

Langston Hughes uses poetry to share the perspectives of oppressed groups of people  through the speaker’s diction which expresses their feelings on topics such as injustice. An insight on the speaker’s perspective on the hardships in their life made me  sympathize with them. An example of this is  “I Too”, in this poem the speaker is an African American who is not allowed to sit at the kitchen table with white people. The speaker’s tone is frustrated. He expresses this through his word choice “They’ll see how beautiful I am/ And be ashamed- /I too am America” (ll.15-17). These words “ I too am America” help readers understand the frustration of African Americans. But it also has the reader admiring the speaker for his perseverance, I find myself rooting for justice for the speaker.  A poem that shows the perspective of working African American mothers is “ The Negro Mother”. In this poem the speaker expresses the struggles of being a black mother. they go through to create a positive life for their children. The diction in this poem carries emotional weight which portrays the speaker as overworked, “ No safety, no love, no respect was I do”(l.16) and, “But I had to keep on till my work was done. I had to keep on! No stopping for me-”(ll.29-30). This exhausted tone makes the reader respect and sympathize with African American mothers. Lastly, the poem I found most moving “Let America Be America Again” shows the perspective of all the oppressed groups in America: the poor white people, African Americans and other people of colour. An angry tone is expressed by the speaker. It is created through the use of  ill- favoured words “Out of the rack and ruin  of our gangsters death, the rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies” (ll.79-80).  This passage emphasizes the exasperation and shows the reader a glimpse into how it feels to be oppressed in America. This often has the reader sympathizing  and supporting the speaker.  Langston Hughes cleverly uses the speaker’s diction as an outlet to share the perspectives of injustice in America. By doing this the reader can understand and have sympathy for the characters. These simple black marks on white paper give light to perspectives that otherwise couldn’t be seen by outsiders.

 The speakers’ in these poems are not just characters; they tell the story of real people. The people in these poems represent people in our world today, this raises questions about  global awareness.Their perspectives share feelings and struggles that are felt by many people today because the world depicted in these poems is similar to the world we live in today. The similarities between the world in the poem and today’s world are the strong prevalence of racism and injustice towards people of colour. For example in “Ballad of the Landlord” an African American is facing unlawful charges from the police. This can also be seen in America with the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality against African Americans. Due to the similarity between the world in the poems and our world today a question that is raised for me is what should I do? And what can we do to make our society more globally aware and just? And I think the answer is to keep listening. Listening to the voices whether through more poetry, other literature or social media. I believe this will help us be more globally aware and then allow us to act in a way which is beneficial and supportive.  For example in “ As I grew older” by Langston Hughes  the speaker states “Help me to shatter this darkness,/ To smash this night,/ To break this shadow,/ Into a thousand lights of sun,/ Into a thousand whirling dreams/ Of sun” (ll.28-33). Here the speaker is asking the reader to help him break the barriers that African Americans face while trying to reach their dreams. If we as a society continue to listen to oppressed voices and learn about the past  then we can act to make the future a place of justice and freedom. Reading a collection of Langston Hughes poems showed me many new perspectives which will help me to be more culturally aware.

Langston Hughes was a renowned poet at the turn of the 20th century of his grand influence as a social activist. Hughes wrote many poems throughout his entire career, combating and raising awareness of the discrimination faced by African Americans (and other minority groups) in America during his time. Although a common theme in Hughes’ poems is found (such as a first-person narrative and optimism), the style of Hughes poems never followed a certain style. 

Throughout Hughes’ career, he often shows a degree of optimism and determination in the face of racial discrimination despite the terrible conditions shown. In the poem, Let America Be America Again, “”O, let America be America again– The land that never has been yet– And yet must be– the land where every man is free,” shows that Hughes has a vision for a better future for America (ll. 64-66). Similarly, in the poem Harlem [2], “What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up like a raisin / Maybe it just sags like a heavy load,” connects back to the common theme where Hughes shows the effects of discrimination but a string of hope still remains. 

Although the poems of Hughes can be regarded as always sticking to a theme, the structure in which Hughes completes his poetry is often not analogous. Hughes main structure is from free verse poems with multiple elements, most notably blues, and jazz. In the poem, I, Too, Hughes uses a true free-verse poem. However, in the poem, The Weary Blues, “I got the Weary Blues/And I can’t be satisfied” is a direct quote Hughes retrieved from a Blues poem in his ‘free-verse poem’ (ll. 25-28). Although The Weary Blues, is a free-verse poem with the elements of blues, a rhyme scheme is incorporated sporadically. Another alternative to Hughes’ use of free verse can be easily noticed in the poem, Montage of a Dream Deferred, where Hughes’ had many African American speakers within the same poem. 

Reading through the collection of poems from Hughes, I was able to broaden my knowledge, regarding the discrimination faced by African-Americans in the 20th century. Along with the eye-opening knowledge I had gained about discrimination, reading and noting the collection from Hughes allowed me to practice and expand on how to analyze a poem.

Growing to like poetry is angering. Something you never expected yourself to “get” is finally starting to make sense, and I’m asking myself, like in Theme for English B by Langston Hughes, “I wonder if it’s that simple?” (l. 6). We’ve covered poetry with a variety of themes, but no repertoire of poems have really stuck with me the same way I know Hughes’ poems will. He raises questions and sparks ideas that continue to be revolutionary. And as a newly found poem enjoyer, I got excited to come to class and dig into the poems we were assigned to read. These poems answer questions, and in their place raise new ones. What do we need to change? Why do we need to change it?

We need to change our past, so we can create a better future. Hughes presents the past of Black people, the mistreatment and injustice they face, and he notably does this in his poem N-gro, “I’ve been a slave: / Caesar told me to keep his door-steps clean. I brushed the boots of Washington” (ll. 4-6) and “I’ve been a victim: / The Belgians cut off my hands in the Congo. / They lynch me still in Mississippi” (ll. 14-16). He’s presenting their history of being slaves and using the word “still” he tells us the continuation of this abuse. This presents to the reader what they need to change. But why do we need to change our future? Huges answers this in another poem Deferred, he presents all these scenarios of black people who want different things relating to education, “This year, maybe, do you think I can graduate? I’m already two years late” (l. 1), money, “Someday, / I’m gonna buy two new suits at once!” (ll. 27-28) and love, “All I want is a wife who will / work with me and not against me” (ll. 32-33). These dreams of black Americans everywhere are consistently deferred and put aside because of the racism engrained within the American system and white Americans.

Now we ask, how can we change this future? Another poem from Hughes provides some ideas for white Americans. For example, Theme for English B describes education for black Americans and the alienation between black and white. “[I go to school] here, / to this college on the hill above Harlem. / I am the only coloured student in my class” (ll. 8-10). We see the physical separation of educational facilities and understand in turn how difficult it must be as a black person to attend college not only because of the unequal opportunities but also the amount of money needed to enroll. So Hughes here is inadvertently promoting the right to easily accessible education. Once more in this poem, Hughes combats the common separation and segregation between white and black people, “Well I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. / I like to work, read, learn, and understand life. / I like a pipe for a Christmas present, / or records—Bessie, bop, or Bach. / I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like / the same things other folks who are other races” (ll. 21-27). Here, he presents a concept similar to his poem Deferred, by showing that black people can have the same wants, needs and feelings as any white folk could. He pushes back against the dehumanization of his race.

These are just some of the ideas presented by Hughes, and though he might’ve provided some answers to these difficult questions through his poetry, these questions of ‘How can we change? How do we progress towards equality?” are still very prevalent today. With the Black Lives Matter movement which is becoming increasingly popular and significant, especially in America, I believe knowing this history of retaliation against racism is very important to know. I would not be surprised if we see more poems by Langston Hughes begin to be used more commonly in protests. It’s good to know your history so we can move on to a better future.

Langston Hughes remains a leading activist in the civil rights movement, from the early 1900s till this day. He fought against all forms of racism and discrimination, and his methods of doing so made him stand out so much, his literature. Hughes is famously known for all his written works in which he promotes equality, condemns racism and injustice, and celebrates African American culture.

Although his general written works are celebrated and are highly regarded, his poems stick out more. An example of a well acclaimed poem from Hughes is, As I Grew Older, one of his earlier poems, and was written between 1921 to 1930. A big inspiration of Hughes’s works was Walt Whitman, a human activist, journalist, and the “father of free verse”. Anyway, Whitman’s footprints could be seen all over this poem. An example of this was the poem being a free verse. The lines are unequal, there is no rhythm, and no beats can be made from the poem. Another example is the optimism Hughes shows when he speaks about how dire his situation is. He speaks about his dreams being blocked off by an insurmountable wall, “My hands! My dark hands! Break through the wall!” (ll, 24-26), but he still urges himself forward against the overwhelming challenge.

There are obvious themes in this poem; racism and dreams. Racism is a major theme in this poem, as it is in Hughes’ other works. Several policies were set up against African Americans, making their lives much harder and as a result a “wall” was created. Dreams were also discussed. Dreams are born out of human desire to achieve something, but Hughes’ and other African American’s are being blocked. Hughes doesn’t specify but he makes it clear how much his dreams means to him, as he compares it to the brightness and power of the sun. “But it was there then, In front of me, Bright like a sun, My dream” (ll, 3-6).

Hughes explains his and many other black Americans’ circumstance. They have dreams, big dreams, but they can’t achieve it because of who they are, because of their skin. No matter how hard he works or dreams, his dream just can’t seem to come to fruition, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.

This poem truly embodies the essence of Hughes’ works (from the ones I’ve read), it discusses racism and discrimination, and the putting out of a fire (his dream), but he never leaves out the hope and optimism.

The Harlem Renaissance, a social movement that emphasized African American identity and expression in the 1920s, had a well-known figure in Langston Hughes. Poverty, oppression, and racial discrimination that black Americans face are depicted in his poetry.

Let America Be America Again, one of Hughes’ most well-known poems, celebrates the ideal of the United States as a land of opportunity and freedom while acknowledging that this ideal has not been realized for all citizens, particularly black Americans. The sonnet proposes rethinking America as a place where everyone is allowed to live their lives and pursue their goals, regardless of race. vivid imagery and metaphors, like “O, let my land be a land where Liberty / Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath” (ll. 11-12) emphasizes the desire for a brighter future. Let America Be America Again perfectly exemplifies Hughes’ upbeat approach to poetry. You can almost hear the speaker’s longing for a new nation that never existed in the line “O, let America be America again” (line 61). a request in the hope that the United States will once again be free. “And yet I swear this oath—/America will be!” are the lines. show that the speaker has complete faith in you. ll. 77-78).

I, Too, another well-known poem by Hughes, addresses racial inequality. The subject of the sonnet is a white person who tells the speaker that he will eventually need to “eat in the kitchen when organization comes.” ll. 3-4). ” The speaker declares, “When organization comes, I’ll be at the table tomorrow,” demonstrating his respect for humanity. ll. 8-9-10). The line “I, too, sing America” in line 1 has a significant significance. The speaker is speaking on our behalf in an effort to convey the idea that all black people are the same: Their praise and celebration of America (line 18) resulted in the phrase “I, too, am America.” The poem discusses the resilience, fortitude, and unwavering belief in one’s own worth of African Americans in the face of adversity.

In Langston Hughes’ poetry, the experiences of black Americans in the United States are the subject of powerful and insightful commentary. He captures the pain and struggle of a marginalized community while also celebrating their strength and resilience through vivid imagery and metaphor. As a reminder of the ongoing struggle for equality and justice for all people, Hughes’s work is still relevant today.